{"id":465,"date":"2020-03-29T18:43:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-30T01:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/?p=465"},"modified":"2020-03-28T18:51:58","modified_gmt":"2020-03-29T01:51:58","slug":"being-human","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/?p=465","title":{"rendered":"Being Human"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

So much is changing, so rapidly.\u00a0 In the last few weeks, the coronavirus has altered every aspect of our lives, personally and socially:\u00a0 the way we live, work, worship, our health system, our economy and more. What we must protect and cling to is who we are:\u00a0 our human essence, our humanity.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the last two weeks, like a lot of you, I\u2019ve spent a lot of time at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, I counted.
I\u2019ve been out of the house exactly 4 times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two weeks ago, Sunday, we had worship via facebook live, from Wylder Hall.
That Tuesday, I came into church for the Board meeting
Which is also the last time I drove my car anywhere
(lots of social distancing)
Yesterday, I realized that if I didn\u2019t drive my car the battery would die
So I started my car, and as long as I had my car, drove to church
Picked up my stole \u2013 a few other things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the fourth time I got out of the house was earlier this week when I took a walk around downtown.
Jim was working.
I just had to get out of the house.
I walked by muelf up Main Street to City Hall.\u00a0\u00a0Through the park.\u00a0\u00a0And back home.
Beautiful Day
I noticed the same thing when I drove to church yesterday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I felt..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People were dangerous
I didn\u2019t speak to anyone.
I avoided eye contact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Buddhist Teacher once pointed out to me that our most common feeling about other people is to think of them as obstacles.
That is, other people are in my way.
I have to wait for them to get served before me in line
I have to drive around their cars.
And we should shift our thinking to remember that other people have their own goals and purposes in life that are as important as our own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if I used to think of my fellow humans as \u201cobstacles\u201d in my life
Now I was seeing them as \u201cdangerous\u201d to my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That felt icky<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the terrorist incidents of 9\/11
A lot of people realized that if our society changed
To where we became permanently frightened and suspicious of each other
Hateful of innocent people
Merely because of their religion or national origin
Sacrificing all our freedoms in pursuit of the fantasy of perfect security.
That the terrorists would have \u201cwon\u201d
That is, that we would have voluntarily done to ourselves
Exactly what the terrorists hoped to do<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so the response, as much as possible, was to try and keep doing exactly what we had done before.
Not to change our society
Not to change our personal behavior<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the current crisis
Some people foolishly said the same thing and refused to make any changes to social behavior
Saying, “The virus wins, if I don\u2019t pack the bar on St. Patrick\u2019s Day, or we don\u2019t pack the beach on Spring Break.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually what the virus \u201cwants\u201d
(Although, it\u2019s weird to talk about a string of protein wrapped in fat as \u201cwanting\u201d anything\u201d)
What the virus wants is to multiply and spread, and bringing people together in bars or beaches is not an act of defiance but actually the best possible scenario for the virus.
In this case the virus \u201cwins\u201d when as many people as possible are infected.
And humanity \u201cwins\u201d when as few people as possible are infected.
And that means not going about business as usual
But fundamentally changing our personal behavior
Changing our society<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So here we are
Worshipping on Zoom
Physical distancing
Learning to work for home \u2013 some of us
Closing school
Canceling trips
Canceling concerts, and sports
Thursday should have been Opening Day for the Baseball Season.
Instead it was \u201cNopening Day\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So that\u2019s tough to do
But it is the right thing to do
We have to learn to keep our distance from each other, for awhile<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what we can\u2019t do,
Is start to think of each other as dangerous
As enemies<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have to change a lot
But what we can\u2019t change is the imperative that we continue to see other people as human beings with goals and purposes in their lives at least as important as our own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two weeks ago, for worship
You might have heard me say how difficult it was to find appropriate words in our hymnal for Opening Words
Because so many of the readings reference coming together physically<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If this goes on too long we\u2019re going to have to have a whole new hymnal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when I thought about all the things that this crisis is forcing us to change
And what we cannot let this crisis change in us.
I reflected on our UU seven principles and realized they are absolutely as appropriate and essential to this time as to any other time.
No change required<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In person or via Zoom room:
The inherent worth and dignity of every person<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Close enough to touch or six feet distant:
Justice, equity, and compassion in human relations<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People I love and strangers on the sidewalk
Acceptance of one another, and encouragement to spiritual growth<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, for you:
A free and responsible search for truth and meaning<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Super Tuesday when we last voted in person, or virtual congregational meetings in May
The right of conscious and the use of the democratic process<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even during a worldwide health crisis our goal hasn\u2019t changed:
The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And with new found relevance but always true humility, knowing that human beings and viruses both have their place
Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want nothing more than to be past this crisis
I pray
for a good treatment
For an effective vaccine
For us to gather in person again
Sharing handshakes and hugs not simply waving at video screens<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will get there
But to get there, safely,
Much of how we live, now, must change<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what need not change
And must not change
Is the core of our faith:
The worth we see in every person
The care we show in every relationship
The principle of justice
The goal of community<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And a humble reminder that none of us
Is the privileged center of the system the universe revolves around
But we are each of us and all of us
a valued part of a vast network of creation
That includes each and embraces all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So much is changing, so rapidly.\u00a0 In the last few weeks, the coronavirus has altered every aspect of our lives,… Read more Being Human<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons","category-writing"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=465"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":466,"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465\/revisions\/466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhmcd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}